Echoes
by counterpunch
Summary: It's quiet. Anna frowns. It's not that quiet is unfamiliar. The fact that it's *too* familiar is what unsettles her.


**Note:** this is a cross-posted tumblr ficlet (counterpunches dot tumblr dot com/post/76915829781/youngbloodbuzz-roomforfamily-osxtephen), based off the beautiful piece of fanart as seen in the teeny tiny icon, found on /frz/ Laze About Edition #332 posted by Wandering

* * *

It's quiet.

Anna frowns.

It's not that quiet is unfamiliar. The fact that it's _**too**_ familiar is what unsettles her. Its almost sounds like….._before_. Anna bites her lip.

The castle has been alive with a flurry of activities for the past few weeks, returned to it's full staff in order to accommodate all the new guests and events. But today there's no shouting or clanging from the kitchens echoing up the corridors, no crowd outside in the courtyard, or lingering dignitaries in the halls. Even the light seems still and Anna's skin itches as the silence grows heavier around her shoulders.

For one terrifying moment, Anna wonders if maybe this is just a dream. That the silence was never broken and she's wandering the halls the way she did for years, lost and lonely, trying to find…something in the nothing that's available to her. The quiet was all she had for so long and suddenly it's oppressive. Anna's pulse quickens and she squeezes her eyes shut against the past that tightens around her. What if it _was_ all a dream, and she's still trapped in the castle and Elsa's still…

Or what if she never thawed? What if Hans….

Anna somehow makes it to a window and is desperately fumbling for the latch when a soft piano melody pulls her out from the panic. It draws her down the corridor and she follows the music into the ballroom, and her body relaxes at the sight in front of her: of Elsa - _here _- on the bench.

Anna remembers hours spent wandering around the castle, lost in her own loneliness, but on a few rare occasions would hear piano haunting through the halls. The music was painfully sad; beautiful but it always sounded….empty. Hollow.

There's a lightness to it now that could never have existed just a few weeks ago. She's here; that time is over. Anna smiles.

"What are you smiling at," Elsa asks playfully without looking up from the keys.

"Nothing," Anna says as she joins her sister, "Just thinking about when I used to hear you play sometimes."

Sadness flickers across Elsa's eyes, "Mama taught us, remember?" she says.

"Gosh, how could I forget?" Anna moans, "I think my fingers still cramp up sometimes."

Elsa chuckles and Anna's smile grows wider. "I was never very good at it," she admits, "But you were wonderful."

"I haven't played in years," Elsa admits, "Not since-"

She bites her lip, buckling under the ghosts of their parents and Anna reflects, not for the first time, that there are far too many "not since's" in their lives.

Elsa hums instead and continues playing. Anna senses Elsa's need for no words and stays quiet, letting the music carry them forward, but she wouldn't have said anything anyway. She couldn't if she wanted to, her throat is closed, thick with grief.

"I used to write you songs, you know," Elsa says after a few minutes, "I would play for hours, it was the only time I really let myself feel." Anna's heart clenches painfully. It had been almost a whole day since she forgot that as awful as things had been for her growing up, Elsa had suffered more.

"I had to," Elsa continues, still focused on the keys, "You couldn't-" she breaks off with a sigh and pursed lips, "You can't play with gloves on."

Her fingers dance gracefully across the piano.

"Write me a new one," Anna blurts.

Elsa's hands still and the music stops as she looks over at Anna quizzically.

"You said you used to write songs for me," she shrugs simply, "So write me a new one."

Elsa's eyes soften from surprise into a soft, shining contentment that makes Anna's heart clench again, but this time for the opposite reason.

"A new song," Elsa says, smile blossoming, as she returns to the keys. Her fingers hover for a moment before she turns to look at Anna once more, eyes lingering as if committing something to memory.

"A new song," she repeats firmly as her eyes twinkle, "We're long overdue for one, aren't we?"

Anna nods enthusiastically and Elsa bends her hands, stretching her fingers, "I think I can manage that."

Anna beams and slouches forward, leaning atop the piano, basking in the magic of her sister. She's still not over it, something as simple as being able to sit next to her. Seeing her. Talking to her. It's the biggest magic of all.

Silence used to separate. Now, its quiet moments like this that bring them together.

The music still echoes in the big hall but this time it sounds _full _and _whole_.

Anna smiles. They are.


End file.
